Peace Process

The most candid inside account of the peace process ever written, as told by Washington's point man on the negotiations during the Bush and Clinton administrations.

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is widely expected to win the presidential elections scheduled for January 9. The media has focused on statements he has made on the campaign trail; below is a survey of his statements on a variety of policy issues over the past several years. Overall Political

The United States has had critical interests in the Middle East for as long as it has been a global power. Securing the flow of the region’s oil to the world economy has always been a central priority. During the Cold War, competition with the Soviet Union for Middle Eastern

The most frequent criticism of President Bush's Middle East policy is that he has been too hands-off. Unless America takes the lead, so the argument goes, the "peace process" will languish. In other words, U.S. activism is the key to progress. This is, by and large, bad analysis and a

Yasser Arafat was a leader who actively engaged his people in military conflict with Israel. His death presents the Palestinians with an opportunity to choose a leader who will pull them back from that aspect of the struggle. What Abu Mazen Must Do to Win Upon Arafat's death, former prime

Common wisdom holds that Arafat's departure from the scene opens promising new horizons to the future of the Palestinian people as well as to Palestinian-Israeli relations. But horizons, by definition, have the tricky nature of distancing themselves from you as you approach them, leaving you with the gloom of day-to-day

A transfer of power within the Palestinian Authority, coupled with the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, presents both challenges and opportunities for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The preconditions of past peace treaties between Israel and its Arab neighbors have demonstrated the necessity for calm on the ground and strong leaders who

The convergence of Yasser Arafat's departure from the scene after four decades of domination and the imminent Israeli disengagement from Gaza (which will include the removal of settlements for the first time since 1967) represents a unique opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian relations. Arafat leaves behind a huge leadership void. With such

Few people can remain indifferent to Yasser Arafat. For many Palestinians, he has been their symbol of defiance, who raised the Palestinian cause to the international stage, and brought his people to the gates of Jerusalem. For President Bush and for the Israelis, Arafat's persona as a terrorist has been